لایک زدن

What it means

لایک زدن (like-zadan) is the standard Persian verb for liking something on social media. You لایک می‌زنی a post, a photo, a reel. The double-tap gesture, the heart icon, the small dopamine click. The English noun لایک sits with the Persian verb زدن (zadan, to strike, to hit), and that pairing is the small piece of grammar worth noticing.

The Pure Persian Movement option is پسندیدن (pasandidan, to like, to find pleasing), the older general-purpose Persian verb for liking. Persian uses it freely in non-internet contexts: این فیلم رو پسندیدم (I liked this film). But on Instagram, when the action is the specific gesture of tapping a heart, people reach for لایک زدن. The internet verb is the gesture, not the feeling.

Compound verb structure

Unlike most internet anglicisms, لایک pairs with زدن (zadan, to hit, to strike) rather than کردن. Persian uses zadan for short, percussive, gesture-shaped actions: زنگ زدن (to ring, to call), حرف زدن (to talk, literally to strike words), چرت زدن (to nap, to take a short hit of sleep). A tap on a like button fits the pattern.

• Present: من لایک می‌زنم (man like mizanam), تو لایک می‌زنی (to like mizani)
• Past: من لایک زدم (man like zadam), تو لایک زدی (to like zadi)
• Subjunctive: که لایک بزنم (ke like bezanam)
• Negation: لایک نزدم (like nazadam, I did not like it)

The direct object marker را or رو attaches to the post being liked: پست‌ت رو لایک زدم (poste-t ro like zadam, I liked your post).

How to use it

aks-e jadidesh rā like zadi?

Did you like her new photo?

عکس جدیدش را لایک زدی؟

hich-kas hanuz post-am rā like nazadeh.

Nobody has liked my post yet.

هیچ‌کس هنوز پستم را لایک نزده.

natars, ye like bezan, sheytun nemishe.

Don’t be scared, just hit like, no harm done.

نترس، یه لایک بزن، شیطون نمیشه.

Why zadan and not kardan

Iranian Persian sorts compound-verb light verbs by the shape of the action. کردن (kardan) covers durative, productive actions: کار کردن (to work), پست کردن (to post). زدن (zadan) covers short, sharp, single-impact actions: زنگ زدن (to ring), سیلی زدن (to slap), لایک زدن (to like). The like-tap is a one-instant gesture, so the verb that comes is زدن. Compare with تگ زدن (tag-zadan) and هشتگ زدن (hashtag-zadan), both short gestures, both with zadan.

Where it comes from

Like is English, imported through Instagram and Facebook from roughly 2010 onward. زدن is native Persian, attested from Middle Persian zatan, with deep Indo-Iranian roots. The pairing is the standard Persian absorption mechanism: a foreign noun grafts onto a native light verb chosen by aspectual fit.

References

• Dehkhoda, زدن
• Vajehyab, لایک زدن